AJAY MODI State sector oil marketing companies (OMCs), with an old problem of heavy losses due to capped retail prices of petrol, diesel, etc, will lose more if these prices are not raised when India moves to Euro-IV norms in 13 cities-and Euro III norms in the rest of country from April 2010, in tune with the Auto Fuel Policy. Currently, India has Euro-Ill petrol and diesel norms in the 13 cities and Euro-II in the rest of the country. Of the country's 178 million tonnes of refining capacity, Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation have a combined capacity of 82 mt. Another 23.5 mt capacity is also in the public sector, while the private sector has a refining capacity of 72.5 mt. The public sector refiners are estimated to incur a cost of Rs 30,000 crore on upgrading refineries to meet the new standards. Apart from this one-time investment, the operating cost of refineries will also move up. A BPC official said the company's 12 mt Mumbai refinery will require about 100 tonnes of hydrogen daily to meet the new standards. "At current prices, the hydrogen alone will mean an additional daily expenditure of around Rs 1 crore. Plus, there will be interest cost on the initial investment and other heads of expenditure," he said. The refineries are, however, confident of meeting the target date. "As of now, we expect to meet the April deadline. With the upgradation, energy and maintenance costs, manpower requirement would also increase. We have not yet worked out the cos increase. But we expect some increase in price for the higher standards in petrol and diesel," said B N Bankapui director (refineries), Indian Oil. The shift to a higher Euro norm will mean improve air quality, thereby leading to lower air pollution. Unde the Euro HI norms,, the permissible sulphur content i: 350 parts per million (ppm for diesel and 150 ppm for petrol. With the implementation of Euro IV norms, the permissible sulphur content in both diesel and petrol will come down to 50 ppm. Sinci sulphur is a major pollutant the stricter norms will cu emission of carbon dioxide nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, etc during fuel combustion.